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1st Congress of the International Academy of Digital Pathology Quebec City, Canada, August 3–5, 2011. Part I
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Digital Pathology – Implementation Challenges in Low-Resource Countries
Paul Fontelo
,1 John Faustorilla,2 Alex Gavino,1,2 and Alvin Marcelo21National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MA, USA
2National Telehealth Center, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines
Abstract
Background: Medical education in pathology and histology in low-resource countries face many obstacles because of equipment cost and telecommunication deficiencies. Digital Pathology may provide solutions. We report student experience to virtual slides on a local network and a remote image server.Methods: Using an iPad tablet device, fifty 3rd and 4th year medical students viewed digital pathology slides from a Web server at the National Library of Medicine and a mirror server on the local network.Results: The quality of images from both servers was found to be satisfactory, but the local server was deemed faster and preferred by the participants in this study (p < 0.005).Conclusions: Virtual slides on a local network server may provide solutions to equipment and technical obstacles and could enhance student learning in developing countries.
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Hindawi Publishing Corporation and the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
